If it seemed strange to me to be heading off to China in September, it seems doubly strange to be back in the US now, polishing off a plate of Christmas cookies as I ponder how to best sum up this past semester. A good way to do so is to look at the first post I ever made, back in August, stating who I was, why I wanted to go to China and what my goals were for my time there. Did I achive them? Let's see.

Become conversational in Mandarin

Can I talk in Chinese? Actually, I've discovered that I'm quite the chatterbox. I've had conversations with my Chinese tutor, my host family, classmates who don't speak English, and random ladies I meet in the flowershop. I first learned how to express the basics (talking about me, my family, scheduling issues, the weather and food topics), but quickly moved on to a mastery of all thing small talk. I can now explain things like the American education system (albiet brokenly) and I've lost track of the number of times I've been called on to explain Christmas in America. I've even gone beyond into more serious topics. For example, once when running, I ran into a few police officers and needed to explain to them why I wasn't worried anyone would steal my 40 RMB ($6.50) cellphone while I jogged on the track right next to it. (Nevertheless, I was careful, and no one ever did).  Another time, in the last week I tried to explain how American elections work, and with a little help from an online dictionary, it was possible. All in all, I consider my Chinese education thus far extremely good, and my only worry is not losing it while back in the land of English-speakers.

Learn about China and Chinese culture

This is another area where I feel like I've suceeded, due in no small part, I'm sure, to my improved language skills. Yes, reading fascinating books and blogs by talented writers in China has been extremely helpful, but the most educating experience, I think, has been meeting and talking with actual Chinese citizens. People I've gotten to know well include my host parents (who are wonderful, for the record), my teachers, Chinese ECNU students who work for CIEE and a few students I just met by chance. I've also had exchances with the kids I tutor, their parents, family friends, and basically anyone who sees Americans and is curious enough to reach out to us. All of these interactions make for an unbeatable exposure to a different way of thinking, one of the main reasons why I wanted to do foreign travel in the first place.

Have fun

Have I had fun? Well, let's see. I've made friends from countries across the globe, including a few I swear I never knew existed.  They speak languages fluently I've never even heard before, and live lives so different from mine I can barely imagine them. This is probably one of the most diverse environments I've ever been in, and I love it. I've traveled up and down and across this amazing country, and all around this bizarre and unique city I'm proud to call home. Okay, check "Mind-broadening travel" off the list.  Add to this that I've come quite far already in a very difficult language, and you'll easily see that I've really been having a lot of fun. I can't imagine a better place to be.  I hope you're liked hearing all about my adventures, because I've really enjoyed having them!

Now that I'm back in the land of speedy internet, it's time for some long-overdue file sharing. First, videos!

A video of the performance in the Sichuan restauraunt we went to during Orientation.

Going dancing in the park with my host mother (not pictured).

Rolling hills from the Shanghai-Lhasa train.

More views from the train, this time with the pop music in the background that played for the majority of the 50 hours we were traveling.

Part of a show we saw in the Guangxi province.

In addition, for our Chinese History class, one of the projects I needed to do involved reflecting on my time in China. Now that it's been handed in, I though I might share a few of the better reflections on this blog. Here's the link for them: 

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B5f1R8nGOF7bYmU3MzI3NTgtZWUzZS00NWYyLTkzZDQtNjc4YjhjYjNmNzNi

[Hi everyone! I originally wrote this a while ago, but due to an internet connectivity problem only could post it now. Enjoy!]

About now, when I’m lying stuffed on my bed, might be a good time to discuss Chinese food.

When I first considered coming here, I thought surprisingly little about the food. I was preoccupied with other things, like the language and navigating social life. The first time I considered the cuisine, actually, was the day before I came, as I sat down to a last brownie with my brother. “Wow,” he said. “I’m really impressed. I could never eat Chinese food for a year.” Being the wonderful role model that I am, I pretended that this idea didn’t fluster me. “Of course,” I replied, “I’ve eaten Chinese food lots before. It’s just noodles and dumplings: no problem.”

Since I arrived here, I’ve realized how completely wrong I was. However, this turned out to be a positive development. Chinese food is not just noodles. It is noodles (thin, thick, clear things that look like noodles but aren’t), dumplings (baozi, jiaozi, wongton, shaolinbao etc), soup, vegetables, and meat of all kind, though invariably on the bone. Besides this, it is spicy, sweet, sour, salty, and everything in between. Even if I spent ten years here, I’m pretty sure that every once in a while I’d turn up some new delicacy I’d never even heard of.

If I’m trying to sample everything in one year, though, it would be hard to be better situated. I eat breakfast and dinner each weekday with my host family, and lunch too usually on the weekends. Breakfast is when they experiment: wonton soup one day, toast with Nutella the next, baozi after that. Lunch is usually dumplings or soup, and dinner is a selection of plates that we sample with rice and sometimes soup. I make sure to try everything, though it’s not like I have much choice in the matter. My parents make sure I eat well, and express concern if they think I’m anything less than completely stuffed. In fact, the first Chinese phrase they taught me was “I’m full”. I never need to say that I’m hungry.

A few of the many, many dumplings they have fed me.

Lunches on the weekdays I eat out, usually at the cafeteria or at the university back gate. The cafeteria has about twenty stores, each serving an average of ten dishes. The back gate has maybe the same number, but serving an average of six plates, for a total of three hundred and twenty options in one hundred and sixty lunches – impossible even if I never eat the same thing twice. However, this dismays me not. How can I go wrong?

Any option has cheap, tasty food. Unfortunately, though, these are trapped behind incomprehensible menus. This gives us Americans trouble, especially beginners like me. To begin with, I would wait until somebody got something that looked good, and then point to indicate that I, too, would enjoy a [insert Chinese characters here]. Other times, I would point to something on the menu at random, and hope for the best. I was never disappointed. Whatever I did, I’d keep the receipt so I could keep a running tally of what I liked. Since I’ve been learning more Chinese, though, my options have expanded. I can now scan the menu for dishes involving “pork” “noodles” “egg”, and see if its “soup” or “stir fry”. I’m still surprised when I order sometimes, but less and less often.

A few of the food vendors in the school cafeteria.

This photo was taken at 1pm. During normal meal hours, practically every seat would be taken by one of thousands of very hungry students.

As I’ve gotten better at ordering food, I’ve also discovered that I enjoy eating it more and more. I’ve taken a real liking to Chinese food – which is both good and bad. For now, it’s wonderful. I can happily munch away, all the meanwhile endearing myself to my Chinese hosts and experiencing the culture. But what about later? If I come home, either for the winter holidays or for good, what will I do as I pine for my noodles? The Chinese restaurant in my hometown, I realize now, can never hold a candle to the humblest baozi shop here. Chinatown is far away and sadly much more expensive than the ECNU back gate.

The only solution will be to cultivate my culinary skills. This is where a home stay comes in quite handy. I’ll just have to come home early a few nights a week and poke around the kitchen. “How does this work? What’s that?” Give me a few months, and I’ll never be obliged to eat Western food again.

Note: with an eye towards increasing my Chinese cooking ability, I've been checking out the local supermarkets, a Walmart and a Carrefour. What I've found has been very interesting...

Huge piles of spices, etc, which I'm sure I could identify if only my Chinese were much better.

What's that hiding behind the apples?

Or in the seafood section?

Yes, those are turtles, sadly.

It's heaven! I discovered the international section just a few weeks before heading home for Christmas.

Hello again!

Since I last posted, I’ve had finals and welcomed the visit of a family member, all while managing to squeeze in no fewer than three overnight trips outside of Shanghai. I feel like my Chinese is improving daily, and the idea of Shanghai as my home has grown to feel practically normal. However, on this entry I only have time to deal with one topic: the CIEE gap year trip.

We went on this four-day excursion a few weeks ago, with the five of us and two teachers. We were off to Guilin and Yangshuo, two cities in the south of China. All of us bravely got ready for a 7 am flight by meeting one cold Wednesday morning at 5 outside the university front gate. One plane, three buses, and a hike up an uncountable number of steps later, we arrived in Ping’an Village.That area is mainly notable for its beautiful scenery of rice patties, but we also noticed the colorful traditional clothing many villagers wore, and the delicious noodle soup the region is famous for. Here’s a picture of the CIEE gappers – from left, me, Mason, Evan, Jamey, and Jack.

Maybe Shanghai’s been getting to me, because the next morning I voluntarily got up early to explore Ping’an and its environs. It was a really beautiful time of day, and I shared it only with farmers planting their crops and a few other wide-eyed tourists frantically snapping pictures. Here are some of the dozens I took that might possibly explain why I was perfectly fine with waking up before the roosters.

This is the village we stayed in that night, about as different from my normal home as imaginable.

That day we went to Huangluo Yao, a neighboring village known for its women with extremely long hair. It is the custom there to cut it only once their entire lives, in their teenage years, which has drawn tourists their from inside and outside the area. Just outside, we noticed some people whose cameras were unusually large and numerous even for tourists. They turned out to be newscasters filming a segment about Guangxi,the province we were in, for the occasion of its 60th anniversary. They were only too eager to talk to the friendly foreigners, so first Evan, and then me offered our opinions in English and Mandarin.

So many cameras!

The show we watched portrayed typical events in their culture, which happened to include a marriage ceremony. This was the audience participation portion, and you’ll be glad to hear the Americans were well represented. JohnPaul, our Chinese history teacher, and Mason have now tied the knot with their new brides, after singing, dancing, carrying their brides piggy-back, and enduring a local custom of pinching the groom on the butt to show you love him. I managed to get a few pictures of the happy couples:

This left us just enough time to drive to Guilin that afternoon and see the Moon and Sun pagodas in the river followed by a trip to the local night market for deals outrageous even by Chinese standards.The next morning we got on a boat that took us down the Li river from Guilin to Yangshuo. Along with many other tourists, I spent most of it on top, appreciating a view so beautiful as to be put on the 20 RMB bank note.

Can you see the resemblance? 

The tour guides on the boat would inevitably say something like “And this is the peak that we call Nine Horses Mountain, because it clearly looks like nine horses”. Half the fun was trying to see the resemblances, which occasionally took a very active imagination.

That afternoon we went to see Silver Cave, known for being extremely beautiful. It certainly didn’t disappoint, as we wandered through chamber after chamber to see each one contained some structure more bizarre and wonderful than the last, with names like “The Ten Thousand Year Old Glossy Ganoderma”. To make things even more interesting, someone had apparently decided that the cave wasn’t beautiful enough by itself, and decided to string Christmas lights everywhere that sent a rainbow of colors all up and down the walls. The whole thing reminded me of some science fiction novel, with the addition of a few hundred tourists panting from climbing up all the stairs.

That evening we went to see Impression of Sanjie, directed by Zhang Yimou, better known for his work directing Hero, Curse of the Golden Flower, and House of Flying Daggers. The theme of the night seemed to be bigness. The show had a cast of hundreds and the world’s largest theatre, which used nearby mountains as backdrops. We managed to sneak into seats up front, and from there had an amazing view of the entire amazing performance. Unfortunately my camera didn’t work in the low light, but that’s okay since I was too busy picking my dropped jaw up from the floor to take any pictures.

The final morning was free time, which I decided to spend enjoying the surprisingly summery weather. For about a dollar and a half I rented a bike for the day, and took it up all around Yangshuo. I got completely lost on tiny dirt roads, and asked for directions in multiple languages (and on one memorable occasion, gave them). After eating lunch by a field on the side of a road, I passed farmers planting their food, families enjoying a lazy Saturday, and cows enjoying just another lazy day (it’s always Saturday to a cow). All in all, a wonderful ending to a great trip.

 After nearly two months here, it might be time to explain something. I (lamentably) do not spend every day traveling to Tibet or exploring the Chinese Pavillion. I usually have something called “classes”, and they figure prominently in my life. I’ll use this blog post to explain them, as well as what I do on a typical weekday.

My mornings begin early, as class starts at 8:30 and there’s usually some last-minute preparing to be done before I gobble down whatever delicious breakfast my host mom has made and bolt for the door. It’s hard to complain, though, about a Shanghai commute that looks like this:

And this in one of the biggest cities in the world.

We take classes in a special building specifically for foreign exchange students. There are several hundred of us, from all around the world and at all different levels of Chinese ability. They’re not all college students, either. Many have come to Shanghai for work, and take these classes to help them communicate with their coworkers. Three days a week we have writing class with Jin Laoshi, and two days a week we have speaking class with Ma Laoshi. Each teacher uses a different textbook and has a different style of teaching, but I’ve found they complement each other very well. Our teachers speak Mandarin almost all of the time. This was initially very difficult, since I’d had only three weeks of study before coming to China, but by now I understand almost everything they say. I’m extremely impressed by my classmates, though. Some of them don’t understand Mandarin or English very well, so the explanations to them are as confusing as the vocabulary words themselves! Every day we have class for three hours, with a 15-minute break in between. Here we are during our break. Common activities include talking with classmates in Mandarin, eating some food, or just frantically reviewing for a dictation.

We finish class just in time for lunch. I usually eat at either the main cafeteria or out the back gate. The main cafeteria has a lot of small shops inside, all serving a variety of foods, usually without any type of English menu. (Adventure!) The back gate area, which is apparently famous within Shanghai, has a wider variety of food. However, since much of it is street food, the cleanliness may be of iffier quality. In either place the food is delicious (Noodles! Dumplings! Stir fry!) and extremely cheap. How cheap, you ask? It’s actually cheaper than McDonald’s, and much better (in my humble opinion). Here's a picture of the main cafeteria. Just picture delicious smells wafting over the breeze...

The afternoon is a mixed of activities. Twice a week a Chinese student, Shirley, tutors me. She helps me understand texts from class, corrects my accents, and helps me prepare for dictations. I also owe her for helping to expand my palate, since we somehow always end up discussing food (in Chinese).

One afternoon a week, all the Gap Year students teach English at a local migrant school. We basically supplement the English instruction they get in class, but in addition try to help them break out of formulaic dialogues, or at least have some fun. Games like Pictionary feature heavily. What do your parents do?

Besides that, I’ll sometimes go to the gym, or just spend the afternoon in the library, drinking tea, chatting with people, and getting homework done (I swear!). Some of the homework is for our “Experiencing China” class that meets once a week. We basically learn about and discuss anything and everything China-related: Shanghai history, Chinese internet, expat life etc. On the weekends we take field trips to various places around Shanghai, and will be taking a four-day trip together in November (more on that later!). In any case, I’m almost always at home for dinner with my host family. My evenings are filled with studying, skype sessions, or planning future trips. It’s always nice to have my own room at the end of the day. (I’m trying not to think about how this will change when I go to college.) Home sweet home...

In a photo, Lhasa was this:

Whoa. WHOA.

Our first morning, we walked from our hotel to the Tibetan center of Lhasa, a bustling nest of streets where you could buy anything from jewelry to prayer bowls to yak horns. We browsed for a bit, and practiced our bargaining before heading off to the Potala Palace, formerly the winter residence of the Dalai Lama.

From left: Evan, Jamey, Mason, Ethan, me, Jack and our guide, Tashi.

Now it’s open for tourists, though pilgrims still come to leave money and white scarves as offerings. It was strange to be there - my friend Ethan compared it to being in the Vatican if the Pope was gone. But it was nevertheless a spectacular experience, and I’m extremely sorry that taking photos inside wasn’t allowed. Here’s the last picture I took after climbing all those steps up.

Don’t be fooled – this photo hides how surprisingly large and modern parts of Lhasa are.

After lunch, we went to the Jokhang Temple, which is still in active use. I’d read up on Buddhism a bit on the train, but I was still extremely glad to have our guide explain things to us. One thing I could appreciate for myself was the architecture, which was extremely bright and colorful. It’s an interesting contrast to Western houses of worship. My church is completely white, which is quite beautiful but I can’t help wondering how it would look, Tibetan-style.

And yes, the rafters are painted blue.

Pay close attention to the two seated men – they were members of a group of Germans we would bump into at every tourist attraction and most meals after this.

That night we stayed in Lhasa, and also at every hotel for our entire trip, would have these bizarre bedside contraptions. They seem to be designed to allow you to control the entire room without emerging from the warmth of your blankets. In my experience, though, they just make it impossible to do anything unless you try all 63 possible combinations (C6,1, C6,2, C6,3 etc. Or permutations, since I swear the order in which you switch them on or off matters too). In any case, the next day we set out on our seven-hour bus ride to Shigatse, where we would spend the night. I sat by the window as the Lord of the Rings theme song played in my head.

Daaaa, daaa, da, da, daaaaaa.....

Along the way we also saw:

The Yamdroktso lake, considered holy by some and stunning by all.

The Khargola glacier, which loomed menacingly, making me glad it was safely contained behind a fence.  A more prosaic note: many of the houses had grids of yak poop drying on the walls, presumably so they could later be used as a source of fuel. I only saw this when we were far from the city, but it’s a measure of how traditional parts of Tibet still are.  We stopped in Gyantse after lunch to visit the Kumbum, a structure resembling a wedding cake and filled with 108 different chapels. Needless to say, we didn’t have the time to visit each one, but we did stop by a couple dozen at least.

Each chapel usually contained a statue of the god it was dedicated to, dressed in clothes and vividly painted.

The next day was a Buddhist holiday, so we visited Tashilhunpo Monastery with many pilgrims. There were long lines for everything, but the monks there kept everyone in order. Besides memorizing religious texts, leading prayers for deceased relatives etc, they are also indispensible in organizing the large number of tourists visiting their home.

While there, we visited many more chapels and larger religious buildings. One housed an enormous statue of Buddha, at roughly five stories (seated!) one of the largest in the world. It was dwarfed only by the enormous fees to take pictures of it: 75 RMB for photos, 1100 RMB for videos (but who would want a video of a statue?).

After we got back to Lhasa, it was our last day in Tibet before taking the train back home. Or so we thought. That morning contained a rather interesting series of events that ended with us dashing to the train station just in time to see our train pull away from the station. What to do, what to do? Ah, I know!

Buy some snazzy bookmarks!

Well, at least Tibet is just as beautiful from above.

The first week of October in China is the National Day Holiday, a time that practically everyone in China uses for vacationing and visiting tourists sites. I was no exception, and headed off with five friends for Tibet! I promise, it was every bit as exciting as you’re imagining right now. We started by taking the train to Lhasa – a 52-hour long journey, but our time spent was richly rewarded. To begin with, we all had (surprisingly comfortable) beds. All six of us were together, which made it very easy to talk, play games or eat the provisions we’d brought with us. During the day, I tended to spend most of my time by the window, with a book, a water bottle and my camera. I read very little of my book, though, because I kept getting distracted by all the China whizzing by. Who knew I could see so much amazing scenery while lazing around in my pajamas all day?

A ghost city, one of many we saw.

The train was packed with Chinese backpackers. I never knew backpacking was all that common in China, so for a while just their existence surprised me. All of them were very nice, though. While waiting in line for hot water, we would strike up conversations in Chinese, English or Chinglish and swap details of our plans in Tibet. We introduced them to the wonders of peanut butter, to their amusement and mild derision. Late at night, we all would have heated political and historical discussions (in English). Though we certainly disagreed on some points, they were extremely fun debates to have. As our train climbed higher and higher, we had a post-midnight snack of maple sugar and headed to bed. The next morning, I woke up to this:

I joined the Chinese backpackers snapping pictures of the sunrise with their professional cameras. Yes, we agreed, we really weren’t in Shanghai any more. As the sun rose, the mountains grew bigger and bigger, and closer and closer... ...until around lunch we started really climbing. Eventually, we leveled out on a plateau with hints of snow and yaks.

We nervously packed our bags as the train pulled in at Lhasa. We’d read lots about Tibet, but books are not substitute for real-world knowledge. Would people wear traditional clothing? What would they eat? Would be like our guide? Basically: What would it be like?

In this post I’ll go through the excursions I’ve been making these past few weeks. Even though I’m taking classes five days a week, it’s wonderful to still have enough time to get to know the world beyond the library (and yes, it turns out there is a world beyond the library).

Generally, CIEE plans activities on Friday afternoons. The Friday before last we went to the Pearl Tower, a pointed structure with large pink spheres along its length that will show up in almost all pictures of Shanghai. From up there we could get several amazing views of everything except the Pearl Tower. Perhaps the most hair-raising part, though, was the section with a glass floor. I’m not sure I want to share what was going through my head when I stepped out on it, but I did at least bring photographic evidence that I did go.

It’s a long way down.

And here’s a more conventional view of the city that's now my home.  I call it “Skyscrapers in the Mist”. 

That same evening we went on a river cruise of the city. By daylight, the buildings had been impressive. By night, they became extremely beautiful as well, and the entire scene reminded me of a circus.  The view of the Bund. The eclectic style of its buildings reflects Shanghai’s past and many dealings with foreign countries.    A view of the Pudong area near the river. The Pearl Tower is near the center of the picture.

The very next day we went on a whole-day trip to Suzhou with members of CIEE’s Study Abroad program. Suzhou is about two hours by bus away from the city, and is a popular tourist destination. Its gardens are considered some of the most beautiful spots in China. Interesting fact: It used to be larger and more important than Shanghai.

Suzhou is also well known for its role in the trade of silk, so our first stop was a modern silk factory. We saw every stage of the process: the silkworms eating, the sorting of the cocoons (see below), boiling and spinning the thread, right up to “tourist buys expensive silk product”. 

They let us keep the broken ones! I wasn’t too fond of the idea of having a silkmoth fluttering around my room, though, so I passed.

Soon afterwards we were on a cruise, seeing exactly why Suzhou is called “the Venice of China”. Why, you ask? This is why:

It's probably more beautiful during holidays than a random Saturday in September, but it's still a pretty cool part of town.

Our last stop was the Humble Administrator’s Garden, the most famous of those in Suzhou. The entire area was intensely cultivated. Covered stone walkways wandered by canals as they linked together small but incredibly beautiful cabins. All the bridges were designed in zig-zag patterns like this, for some reason. A covered walkway

This Friday brought another trip – to the World Expo! Alas, the Expo ended last year. However, the Chinese Pavilion was still running, and an afternoon there was fascinating enough in itself.

A view of the pavilion from the small garden behind it. It might be hard to tell in this picture, but the building is HUGE. To get to the first floor (where the supporting columns meet the actual building) is two or three stories up.

The inside basically walked us through a tour of China: its history, its present (including many pictures drawn by Chinese kids), and its future. This last part placed heavy emphasis on the search for renewable resources, which struck me as a bit of an unusual focus to chose. The entire exhibit varied between pro-China and ridiculously nationalistic, which just added another layer of interest to the exhibit. Here are a few pictures of the inside. Unfortunately, after at least ten hours of wading through various sites, I’m unable to upload any of the videos I’ve been taking. I’ll give it another shot in a few days, but in the meantime I highly recommend checking out my friend Laura’s YouTube stream at thejokerpenguin18, especially (when she posts it), the ten-minute quasi-propaganda video they showed us at the start of the Chinese Pavillion tour. What I did get pictures of were:

A screen the length of a long hall, playing scenes from a traditional Chinese village. Note the large crowds even now!

The designers went out of their way to make each section interesting. Someone compared this section to walking through a forest in Pandora. (Fun fact: The movie Avatar was based on the Huang Shan mountains in China, something many Chinese people are extremely proud of).

Evan, one of the kids in the Gap Year program, had actually been to the Expo itself last year, and he said the Chinese exhibition was universally considered one of the best. His evidence? The length of the wait was ten hours, versus a more modest three or so for less popular exhibits. I agree with the sentiment, but I’m still very glad we didn’t visit during the actual Expo.

In our free time, the Gap Year group has also been making trips to other spots around the city. Last week we browsed M50, an art neighborhood with lots of galleries. One of my favorite exhibits was called “Follow! Follow! Follow!” The artists stitched small cloth people into various scenes. One of the designs ran the length of the gallery.

A wide view (tallest point is maybe thirty feet high)

And a close up.

This Sunday we made a trip to a bookstore with an English language selection, and followed that up by exploring the Jing’an Villa neighborhood. This last area has lots of small shops selling everything from tea to high- and low-priced trinkets to dinners. Most importantly, we found a library with a fairly extensive selection of English books, complete with tables for studying, a refrigerator with drinks and (unfortunately) a monthly membership fee.

Now, it’s back to class, at least for the moment. The first week of October is the National Day holiday. We don’t have class, so everyone in China (or so it seems) is planning a trip. Our destination? The Gap Year group (plus one Study Abroad student) is headed to Tibet!

Apologies for the pun in the title. I blame my father.

This week we finished orientation, though mostly the fun parts. On Monday evening we saw an acrobatics show. The tricks they tried were certainly a step beyond what I had ever seen before, or what I thought they’d be able to get away with in the US. Throughout the show I remained on edge. I always expect something to go wrong. It never does, I kept telling myself, and nothing did, right up until a performer on a giant hamster wheel of death dropped the flaming torches he was juggling, and one came hurdling  down towards MY row. The girl it was headed to managed to catch it, beyond all odds, and no one was hurt at all. Despite this, the CIEE leaders and heads of the show were extremely concerned. They made sure we were safe (we were) and not scared (mostly). In any case, this event left all of us with a renewed appreciation for the risks acrobats take, and required me to rethink my backup plan of running away to the circus.

The next trip we went on was to the City God Temple, which is dedicated to three gods, Huo Guang, Qin Yubo and Chen Huacheng, who played important roles in Shanghai history. (For more information, check out this). The area nearby, while pretty, certainly has tourists in mind, based on the Starbucks and various shops selling souvenirs. The temple itself, though, is still very much in use. While we were there, several people came to buy incense and pray, even through the pouring rain. The weather, however, proved too much for us, and we left for dinner.

 
The City God Temple

Dinner turned out to be at a very nice Sichuan restaurant. For those of you who don’t know, food from this province tends to be very spicy, and while everything was quite delicious, I spent much of the evening being very glad I was studying in Shanghai and not Chengdu. I’m not sure my taste buds would survive long there. However, the food was outshone by a show at the end of dinner.  Up on a stage I previously hadn’t noticed came a costumed man who performed something called Face-Changing. There was singing and dancing and, of course, face-changing. Several times over the course of the show the performer would change his mask in a split second. This time of performance is also from the Sichuan province.

 
On Friday was the Amazing Race Shanghai, a huge scavenger hunt that the Gap Year students as well as Study Abroad participants competed in. We all started with the same clue, and needed to travel around the city (using only public transportation) to find the spot it described. Then, we took a picture of us with it, for proof, and went to a nearby CIEE staff member to get the next clue. The entire race took us about three hours, during which time we went to: Zhongshan Park, the Jing’an Temple area, People’s Square, the Bund and the French Concession. Though our group came in eighth out of ten teams that finished (and twelve that started), we still got prizes in the form of some small bags and movie tickets. However, I’d consider the greatest prize of all the newfound confidence I gained in negotiating Shanghai. With a little effort I could probably get anywhere in my new city.

There were other things we did this week – start school, buy things in a fake market, tour the elementary school where we’ll be teaching English – but I’ll save a description of them for a week that’s less packed than this one was. I'll also put off showing you two great videos I shot this week. I'm having technical difficulties uploading them to YouTube (amazingly, not related to the Great Firewall), but I'll have them up as soon as I can.

It’s hard to believe I’ve only been here five days. It seems much longer than that, probably because I’ve settled in here very quickly, even avoiding any serious jet lag. However, I haven’t just been sitting in my room adjusting – I’ve been meeting people and participating in the many orientation activities CIEE has organized.

To begin, I met my host family, a very nice couple. They have two very cute dogs and an adult daughter who lives in Australia. My host dad speaks some English, and my host mom speaks very little, so conversation is difficult. Usually I come to them with the key words already found in Chinese and written down, and we take it from there. In times when nothing else works, Google Translate is a good last resort.

Friday was what I called the day of Administration and Paperwork, as we registered with the University, learned more about our daily activities, and took placement tests. I got put into 1-2 (the second lowest level) though the only Mandarin study I have is three weeks over the summer. I’m actually a bit worried about that, but I should be able to keep up.

The weekend involved not a single piece of red tape – we spent it all on more fun things. Saturday began with a trip into the center of Shanghai with our Chinese culture seminar teacher, John Paul. We took the train into People’s Square and caught a tourist bus from there. I was skeptical at first, but it turned out to be a really great way to see the city.

The view from the Bund. You can see the Pearl Tower in the center.

We stopped off and saw an area where people hung signs advertizing themselves as candidates for marriage, sort of like a personals section. There must have been thousands of leaflets.

We also found our way around the East China Normal University (ECNU for short) where we’ll be taking classes and spending quite a bit of time. It’s a very beautiful campus, complete with a small river running through the center. Here’s a picture of the giant Mao statue on one of the lawns.

Saturday evening I got back, and then went back out again almost immediately for a family dinner. It involved the three older brothers of my host mother and the entire extended family of that side that was in the area, about twelve in all. We went to a Chinese restaurant where dozens of plates came out and were placed on a lazy susan for us to sample. I may proudly declare that I tried chicken feet, turtle meat, duck stomach, tripe, and other things less recognizable but equally delicious. Eric, a six-year old adorable relative of my host mother’s, performed a speech for us. He also tried to teach me some Mandarin and trick me into saying I loved him. I came back that evening stuffed and happy.

Sunday evening was equally eventful. My host mother took me out after dinner to go “shopping”. In fact, we only did a little shopping. Shortly after that she took me to a square in a park where people were playing music and possibly a hundred people had gathered to dance. I originally thought they were playing Chinese music, but later recognized translated versions of “Edelweiss” and “A Bicycle Built for Two” among the songs. My host mom and her friend tried to teach me how to dance, but I’m afraid was all thumbs. In any case, it was fun just to be there and watch the more talented dancers glide by. Sadly, I forgot my camera. Who would have thought I’d need it for shopping?

That brings me to today, where we attended the opening ceremonies of ECNU for the foreign students before classes officially start tomorrow. The speeches took two hours, but for a very simple reason – they translated every part of the presentations into at least Mandarin and English, and often they added Japanese and Korean as well. This mishmash of languages provided a few wonderful examples of Chinglish. My favorites include a warning to “Remember the feathers of a criminal” and a section entitled “Tips about running for your life”.